BackgroundThe challenge of combining professional work and breastfeeding is a key reason why women choose not to breastfeed or to stop breastfeeding early. We posited that having access to a high-quality lactation room at the workplace could influence working mothers’ satisfaction and perceptions related to expressing breast milk at work, which could have important longer term consequences for the duration of breastfeeding. Specifically, we aimed to (1) develop a checklist for assessing the quality of lactation rooms and (2) explore how lactation room quality affects lactating mothers’ satisfaction and perceptions. Drawing on social ecological insights, we hypothesized that the quality of lactation rooms (operationalized as any space used for expressing milk at work) would be positively related to mothers’ satisfaction with the room, perceived ease of, and perceived support for milk expression at work.MethodsWe conducted two studies. In Study 1 we developed a lactation room quality checklist (LRQC) and assessed its reliability twice, using samples of 33 lactation rooms (Study 1a) and 31 lactation rooms (Study 1b). Data were collected in the Northern part of the Netherlands (between December 2016 and April 2017). Study 2 comprised a cross-sectional survey of 511 lactating mothers, working in a variety of Dutch organizations. The mothers were recruited through the Facebook page of a popular Dutch breastfeeding website. They completed online questionnaires containing the LRQC and measures aimed at assessing their satisfaction and perceptions related to milk expression at work (in June and July 2017).ResultsThe LRQC was deemed reliable and easy to apply in practice. As predicted, we found that objectively assessed higher-quality lactation rooms were associated with increased levels of satisfaction with the lactation rooms, perceived ease of milk expression at work, and perceived support from supervisors and co-workers for expressing milk in the workplace.ConclusionsThe availability of a high-quality lactation room could influence mothers’ decisions regarding breast milk expression at work and the commencement and/or continuation of breastfeeding. Future studies should explore whether and how lactation room quality affects breastfeeding choices, and which aspects are most important to include in lactation rooms.
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BackgroundThe challenging combination of breastfeeding and work is one of the main reasons for early breastfeeding cessation. Although the availability of a lactation room (defined as a private space designated for milk expression or breastfeeding) is important in enabling the combination of breastfeeding and work, little is known about the effects of lactation room quality on mothers’ feelings and thoughts related to breastfeeding and work. We hypothesized that a high-quality lactation room (designed using the Theory of Supportive Design) would cause mothers to experience less stress, have more positive thoughts about milk expression at work, perceive more organizational support, and report more subjective well-being, than a low-quality lactation room.MethodsIn an online randomized controlled trial (Study 1), Dutch mothers (N = 267) were shown either a high-quality or a low-quality lactation room (using pictures and descriptions for the manipulation) and were then asked about their feelings and thoughts. In a subsequent field experiment (Study 2) we modified the lactations rooms in a large organization in Groningen, the Netherlands, to manipulate lactation room quality, and asked mothers (N = 61) who used either a high-quality or low-quality lactation room to fill out surveys to assess the dependent variables.ResultsThe online study showed that mothers exposed to the high-quality lactation room anticipated less stress, more positive cognitions about milk expression at work, more perceived organizational support, and more subjective well-being than mothers exposed to the low-quality lactation room (p < 0.05). Moreover, the effect of lactation room quality on perceived organizational support was especially pronounced for mothers who were higher in environmental sensitivity. The field experiment showed that use of the high-quality room led to less reported stress than use of the low-quality room (p < 0.05). We also found that mothers who were higher in environmental sensitivity perceived more control over milk expression at work and experienced more subjective well-being in the high-quality condition than in the low-quality condition (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe current studies show that not only the availability, but also the quality of lactation rooms is important in facilitating the combination of breastfeeding and work.
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Research has shown that breastfeeding has important long-term health effects on both children and mothers. The World Health Organization therefore recommends that children be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and that breastfeeding be continued thereafter, alongside complementary feeding, until children are at least two years old. However, many mothers experience problems with breastfeeding and stop earlier than they would like. One of the reasons that women stop prematurely is the often difficult combination of breastfeeding and work. In this dissertation Van Dellen studied what organizations can do to support breastfeeding employees, both before the return to work and in the period afterwards.Before the return to work, a breastfeeding support programma appears to be an effective way to support mothers. Within the programme, women received structural support from a lactation consultant, from pregnancy until ten weeks after birth. Mothers who received the support programme were on average 66% less likely to stop breastfeeding compared to mothers who did not receive support. After the return to work, the quality of lactation rooms appears to play an important role. Lactation room quality is positively related to satisfaction, perceived ease, and perceived support for milk expression at work. Moreover, experimental research found that mothers in a high-quality lactation room experienced less stress, more control, and more well-being than mothers in a low-quality lactation room.The results of the study show that organizations can better support breastfeeding employees by offering structural support from a lactation consultant and high-quality lactation rooms.
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Breastfeeding has important health consequences, not only for infants, but also for mothers (Victora et al., 2016). However, many mothers stop breastfeeding before the advised six month period. Research indicates that difficulties associated with combining work and breastfeeding are an important reason for mothers to discontinue breastfeeding prematurely (Peeters, Lanting, & Van Wouwe, 2015). One important issue in this respect seems to be that in many organizations a lactation room is either lacking or of poor quality. This study examines the relationship between objective and subjective lactation room quality, mood, relaxation, and behavioral determinants of pumping milk at work: attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control and intention.First, an observation list was developed and pre-tested to determine objective lactation room quality. Then, 511 lactating women completed a questionnaire that included questions about objective and subjective lactation room quality, mood, relaxation, attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control and intention towards pumping milk at work. Regression analyses showed that both objective and subjective lactation room quality is positively related to mood, relaxation, social norms and perceived behavioral control towards pumping milk at work. Notably mothers’ subjective experience of the room mediated the relationships between objective lactation room quality and mood, relaxation, and social norms and perceived behavioral control. The results of this study show that lactation room quality can potentially impact the process of pumping milk at work in important ways. It is important to further explore the causality of this relationship and its potential effects in experimental settings.
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Breastfeeding has important long-term health consequences, not only for infants, but also for mothers. Researchers have calculated that scaling up breastfeeding could annually prevent 823,000 child deaths and 20,000 breast cancer deaths worldwide. Because of the important effects of breastfeeding, the World Health Organization advises mothers to breastfeed for minimally 2 years. However, breastfeeding rates are low, especially in the western parts of the world. One of the most important reasons to discontinue breastfeeding is the often-difficult combination of breastfeeding and work. Research shows that many mothers don’t have access to a suitable space to express milk at work. For FM professionals it is crucial to realize that the availability of breastfeeding facilities is important for organizations too. Breastfeeding improves the health and well-being of infants and mothers, which leads to reduced sick leave and health care costs. Moreover, breastfeeding support at work can lead to higher job satisfaction, a better work-life balance, and can reduce staff turnover. Therefore, offering good breastfeeding facilities creates a win-win situation, benefitting mothers, babies, and organizations. Facility managers are in a unique position to secure a healthier work environment that makes combining work and breastfeeding easy and feasible. FM can make a change!
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Abstract Aims: Medical case vignettes play a crucial role in medical education, yet they often fail to authentically represent diverse patients. Moreover, these vignettes tend to oversimplify the complex relationship between patient characteristics and medical conditions, leading to biased and potentially harmful perspectives among students. Displaying aspects of patient diversity, such as ethnicity, in written cases proves challenging. Additionally, creating these cases places a significant burden on teachers in terms of labour and time. Our objective is to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted computer-generated clinical cases to expedite case creation and enhance diversity, along with AI-generated patient photographs for more lifelike portrayal. Methods: In this study, we employed ChatGPT (OpenAI, GPT 3.5) to develop diverse and inclusive medical case vignettes. We evaluated various approaches and identified a set of eight consecutive prompts that can be readily customized to accommodate local contexts and specific assignments. To enhance visual representation, we utilized Adobe Firefly beta for image generation. Results: Using the described prompts, we consistently generated cases for various assignments, producing sets of 30 cases at a time. We ensured the inclusion of mandatory checks and formatting, completing the process within approximately 60 min per set. Conclusions: Our approach significantly accelerated case creation and improved diversity, although prioritizing maximum diversity compromised representativeness to some extent. While the optimized prompts are easily reusable, the process itself demands computer skills not all educators possess. To address this, we aim to share all created patients as open educational resources, empowering educators to create cases independently.
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Introduction: The Netherlands does not have a national guideline for performing radiographic examinations on pregnant patients. Radiographic examination is a generic term for all examinations performed using ionizing radiation, including but not limited to radiographs, fluoroscopy and computed tomography. A pilot study amongst radiographers (Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs)) showed that standardized practice of radiographic examinations on pregnant women is not evident between Radiology departments and that there is a need for a national guideline as the varying practice methods may lead to confusion and uncertainty amongst both patients and MRTs. Methods: Focus groups consisting of MRTs from several Radiology departments within the Netherlands were used to map ideas and requirements as to what should be included in the national guideline. Nine focus group sessions were organized with a total of 52 participants. Using a previous review (Wit, Fleur; Vroonland, Colinda; Bijwaard H. Pre-natal X-ray exposure and the risk of developing paediatric cancer; a systematic review of risk factors and a comparison of international guidelines. Health Physics 2021; 121 (3):225e233), the following key points were chosen as discussion topics for the focus group sessions: dose reduction, confirming pregnancy and risk communication. Results: Results showed that the participating MRTs did not agree on the use of lead aprons. That the national guideline should include standardized methods to adjust parameters to decrease radiation dose. Focus group participants find it difficult to ask a patient's pregnancy status, especially when dealing with relatively young and old (er) patients. When communicating the level of risk associated with a radiographic examination the participating MRTs would like to be able to use examples and comparisons, preferably by means of a multilingual website. Conclusion: A national guideline must include information on justification, available alternatives, dose reductions methods and confirmation of pregnancy requirements when fetal dose is a significant risk. Implications for practice: A national guideline ensures standardized practice can be implemented in Radiology departments, increasing clarity of the issues for both patients and MRTs.
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This booklet presents sixteen 'practice briefs' which are popular publications based on 12 Master and one Bachelor theses of Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (VHL). All theses were commissioned through the research project entitled 'Inclusive and climate smart business models in Ethiopian and Kenyan dairy value chains (CSDEK)'. The objective of this research is to identify scalable, climate smart dairy business models in the context of the ongoing transformation from informal to formal dairy chains in Kenya and Ethiopia.
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The European Open Platform for Prescribing Education (EurOP2 E) seeks to improve and harmonize European clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) education by facilitating international collaboration and sharing problem-based, online, open educational resources. The COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers to switch to virtual modalities, highlighting the need for high-quality online teaching materials. The goal of this study was to establish the online problem-based teaching resources needed to sustain prescribing education during the pandemic and thereafter. A nominal group technique study was conducted with prescribing teachers from 15 European countries. Results were analyzed through thematic analysis. In four meetings, 20 teachers from 15 countries proposed and ranked 35 teaching materials. According to the participants, the most necessary problem-based-online teaching materials related to three overarching themes. Related to learning outcomes for CPT, participants proposed creating prescription scenarios, including materials focusing on background knowledge and resources on personalized medicine and topical/ethical issues such as the prescription’s impact on planetary health. Second, related to teaching, they proposed online case discussions, gamification and decision support systems. Finally, in relation to faculty development, they recommend teacher courses, a repository of reusable exam questions and harmonized formularies. Future work will aim to collaboratively produce such materials.
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